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‘Clipped wing’ generation in South Cumbria forced to live with parents

Last updated at 15:12, Wednesday, 30 July 2014

ALMOST one third of young working adults in South Cumbria are still living with their parents because they can’t afford to get on the property ladder.

OUT OF REACH? Research has revealed that almost a third of young adults in Cumbria are unable to afford to buy property pa

Research from housing charity Shelter has revealed that some 1.97m adults between the ages of 20 and 34 are still living at home with their parents.

This includes 2,437 young working adults in Barrow, 2,767 in Copeland and 3,135 in South Lakeland.

Official figures published earlier this year showed that home ownership in England has fallen to its lowest level since 1987.

Shelter has found that 70 per cent of homes in the North West are too expensive, with South Lakeland ranking the worst.

Only four per cent of the houses that are on the market in South Lakeland are considered affordable.

In neighbouring Copeland it is a different story, with 72.3 per cent of houses being reasonably priced – the best on the ranking table.

Barrow meets them half way, with 43.3 per cent of homes being affordable.

Now, Shelter is urging stronger action from the government to help the “clipped wing generation” fly the nest.

Lee Masson, 26, from Walney, works at Tesco but has a masters degree in geology from the University of Edinburgh.

With the struggle of finding full time work and house prices constantly rising, he is finding it difficult to move out of his parents’ house.

He said: “I am currently contracted to work seven-and-a-half hours a week, but can end up working anything up to 30 hours. This means that some months I can come away with as little as £200/£300 which prevents me from being able to save up for a house.

“If I were to buy a house I would struggle to make the monthly payments and to pay for things, such as TV, internet, bills for electricity, gas and water and even food would have to be massively budgeted.”

Shelter believes that bolder action needs to be taken to ensure that there are more affordable homes for the younger generation.

Chief executive Campbell Robb said: “The ‘clipped wing generation’ are finding themselves with no choice but to remain living with mum and dad well into adulthood, as they struggle to find a home of their own.

“Rather than pumping more money into schemes like Help to Buy, we need bolder action that will meet the demand for affordable homes and not inflate prices further.

“Politicians of all parties must now put stable homes for the next generation at the top of the agenda.”

Have your say

This goes back to when the high street banks began mortgage lending and consistently jacked-up the salary multiples, thereby inflating property prices, which have far outstripped the inflation index. The only winners are those who got onto the property ladder before the mid 1980s.

Posted by Neil Probert on
1 August 2014 at 15:50

It would.help if people could get full time contracts and local firms employed local people.Barrow would stand a chance of turning things around if people could stay in the area and have pride.in the area.The government just want to keep people down and in their place so won't provide what we need to live comfortably when they have it all.